T. asperellum strain PR11 and a mixture of two different
mycorrhizal fungi, Gigaspora margarita Becker & Hall and Acaulospora
tuberculata Janos & Trappe, were used in this study. Details
pertaining to the identification of these fungi were previously
provided by Begoude et al. (2007) and Ngonkeu (2009), respectively.
The fungi were provided by the Regional Biocontrol and
Applied Microbiology Laboratory of IRAD (Cameroon).
For the production of AMF inoculum, G. margarita and
A. tuberculatawere inoculated ontomaize (Zeamays) grownin sterile
river sand. After four months a mixture of spores and mycelium,
Z. mays root fragments and river sand were harvested as inoculum.
T. asperellum (PR11), from the stock culture, was grown on V8
agar medium (200 ml V8 juice, 3 g CaCO3, 15 g agar) at room
temperature during five days for spore production. To obtain spore
suspensions, sterile distilled water was added to the Petri plates
and conidia were scraped from the surfaces of the colonies and
filtrated through sterile cheese cloth. The spore concentration was
adjusted to 106 conidia ml1 using a hemocytometer.